Traders keep bets on U.S. Fed's 2019 interest rate rises

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(Reuters) - Traders of U.S. short-term interest-rate futures on Wednesday stuck with bets the Federal Reserve will raise rates once more this year and twice next year after the U.S. central bank ended a two-day meeting, as expected, with no change to interest rates.

Contracts tied to the Fed’s policy rate that are traded at CME Group’s Chicago Board of Trade pared earlier losses after the Fed slightly downgraded its description of business investment, saying growth had moderated since earlier in the year. Still, the pricing of the contracts continued to signal expectations for a Fed rate hike next month, and two further hikes in 2019. That is one less 2019 rate hike than the Fed signaled when it last released forecasts in September.